The Beginning of the End Of New Lork Part 8

Deliah was cut off, a beat up truck bounced around the corner.  Partially smoking and fleeing something Deliah dodged to the right of the road into a ditch, Kyriac following suit. Deliah noted that the marking and occupants looked more rebel than corporate, but they could have been mercs like her who had to scrounge. She had hoped they’d just keep driving, but unfortunately, their truck died.

“Stay,” Deliah told Kyriac as she dusted herself off and approached the broken down truck. She kept her rifle slung in front of her not wanting to show an outward sign of aggression. There were four of them, two that had been inside, and two that were riding in the trucks bed.  They reacted to her presence in the usual fashion of New Lork, by drawing their weapons.

“Back off bitch.”

“Easy there boys, I’m just seeing if I can potentially help you out.” Deliah had her hands up, she noted their weapons looked clean, more likely mercs than rebels.

“You some kind of mechanic?” Deliah was glad she was wearing her mask, because her eye roll would have just made them angrier.

“Yeah something like that, you guys Drydek?” She noted how they had fanned out, the two on the bed were now near the tailgate, and the two that had been in the cab had taken up positions on either side of the truck; which leaned more toward mercs over rebels.

“What’s it to you? Are you some kind of rebel?” Trigger fingers were hovered a bit too close to trigger guards for Deliah’s taste.  She moved towards the front of the still smoking truck and she could feel all their eyes upon her.

“Do I look like a rebel to you? Pop the hood unless you think I can magic it open.” The one near the driver’s side reached in and there was a click.  Deliah lifted the hood and could see the engine had taken weapons fire; she lifted her mask to get a better look at what was hit.  The mercs had moved up, now there were two per side, by the front wheels, their hands were still on their weapons. The fuel line looked like it had been hit, which meant the engine was pretty much screwed.

“Who’s the kid?” The merc to her right motioned back towards where Kyriac was waiting.

“My son, why you want him? He’s not very good at anything, but if you offer a good price I could entertain getting rid of the little bugger.” That elicited some chuckles.

“You’re kids green? Man lady I don’t want to get anywhere near your vagina.” The merc who seemed to be the leader of the band was the driver; he was standing closest to the truck on the driver’s side.

“Well his father had a mutation of his own, if a man with a double headed penis tells you he’ll pull out in time, don’t believe him.” They were laughing again, Deliah smiled.  Humor was her best weapon most of the time, she’d been able to talk her way out of a lot of situations just by having people laugh.  Well laugh until she shot them, sometimes talking your way out just means setting up your next attack.

“So Cash at what point are you going to try and kill us?” Deliah stopped smiling.  She had hoped that this group might not have been in contact with central command, but that appeared to be a wasted hope.

“Who?”

“Look bitch, just put your hands where I can see them and this will go easy, we might even use lubricant before we give you to command.” Deliah licked her lips; they had her in a bad position. She was leaning over an engine; Kyriac wasn’t really in ear shot nor was he armed, and she couldn’t even remember if she had chambered a round in the assault rifle.

“Ok let me just close the hood.”

“Sure I’d hate for you to try and blow up the engine or something.” Deliah got out from under the hood and let it slam shut; she held both hands in front of her. One of the mercs on the left came forward; he had some of that plastic crap they use to restrain normal people.  Deliah looked through the truck’s cab, she could see the bed behind it and in an instant she was standing in the bed.  The merc’s looked shocked; Deliah brought the assault rifle to bear and heard a disappointing click. 

“Fuck!” she racked the slide and tried again but it was jammed.  Her initial element of surprise gone it came down to a moment of reflexes.  She had the elevated position and the truck was partially blocking their sight lines; they had the numbers. She let the rifle fall and reached for the Hanlon, it was straight hip firing, four quick reports and the merc’s hit the ground around the truck.  She could see Kyriac to her left; the shooting had got him out of the ditch.  She had killed three of the mercenaries, and the last one was pretty much a goner.  The survivor looked like the round had taken hit him just below the neck, probably severed his spine. Deliah hopped down from the truck bed and made her way over, kicking away the assault rifle the Merc was using, she couldn’t be too careful.

“You broke my back whore.”

“Oh hush honey, don’t worry I’ll use lube.” She put the Hanlon underneath his chin, nodded her head, and pulled the trigger.  His brains coated the dirty pavement behind him.

“They weren’t very friendly I take it,” Kyriac was behind her, looking over the gear from one of the mercenaries.

“Not much for conversation really, shame about their truck though, it really is as dead as they are.” Deliah unslung the jammed assault rifle and dropped it on the ground, “Dead as this piece of shit rifle.”

“I wasn’t aware shifting was that harsh on equipment.” Kyriac had one of the merc rifles, Deliah didn’t drop her Hanlon, if he was going to try and turn on her, it was going to be now.

“I’m just glad it doesn’t mess with clothing, it’s bad enough when it’s my figurative pants falling down, I’d hate for it to be my actual pants.” Kyriac laughed, Deliah relaxed a bit and holstered the Hanlon.

“I just have to wonder, is there anyone who doesn’t want to kill you Deliah?”

“Oh this is nothing; you should see family dinners.” Deliah picked up the rifle she kicked away, it was better than her previous rifle, she hoped this one wouldn’t jam after one shift. In the distance she heard another truck.

“More mercs?” Kyriac took up a defensive position near the front of the trucks grill.

“Nope these are probably the rebels who chased these jack asses.”

“Payback time.” Kyriac smiled as he racked a round into the chamber.